Iowa court orders both same-sex parents be included on birth certificate

An Iowa District Court ordered that the state’s Department of Public Health must include Melissa and Heather Gartner – both names of married same-sex parents – on their children’s birth certificates. The two moms sued the Iowa Department of Public Health after officials refused to include the name of their child’s non-biological parent on the child’s birth certificate unless the non-biological parent adopted the child. The court said that because same-sex marriage is legal in the state, the Department of Public Health erred in refusing to include the name of the non-biological parent on the child’s birth certificate. The court refused to require the non-biological same-sex parent to adopt the child in order to be listed on the birth certificate, and it ordered the Department of Public Health to issue a new document including the names of both parents.